Emergency 
Health Unit

Juliet*, 30, is from Binga district in Zimbabwe where a severe drought and food crisis have gripped the region. She lives with her mother, sister and two children, her five-year-old son and 24-day-old daughter Maita*. Juliet’s first baby tragically died during labour. Juliet says the changing climate and unpredictable rainfall are having a big impact on her family’s life. When the borehole runs dry they often have to drink dirty water, which gives them diarrhoea. And while they grow their own crops, delayed rains have meant they are going hungry because they haven’t been able to produce enough food. The drought is also impacting on Juliet’s access to healthcare. Her local clinic has been forced to close the maternity unit because it no longer has a water supply due to low water levels and power cuts. Women are now referred to the district hospital to give birth. However, some women cannot afford to pay for the transport to the hospital and have no choice but to give birth at home. When Juliet recently became pregnant with Maita, she was faced with an agonising situation. Juliet couldn't afford the transport cost to the hospital but was extremely stressed about giving birth at home because her first baby died. Luckily, baby Maita was born safely. Juliet is now saving as much money as possible so her pregnant sister Alice*, 19, can deliver at a hospital. Juliet was part of an assessment conducted by Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit in Binga district and six other districts in Zimbabwe in January and February 2020. The Emergency Health Unit found that 50 percent of the health facilities assessed do not have a fully functioning water supply due to low water levels in the rivers, power cuts and poor infrastructure. The water shortages mean health workers often cannot provide children, pregnant women and new mothers with adequate healthcare or they have to refer them to another facility. The assessment also found the severe drought has greatly reduced safe water supplies in communities. Fifty-six percent of rural water sources are not fully functional mainly due to boreholes and wells drying up and a significantly lower water table compared with previous years. This means communities, especially women and girls, are forced to travel longer distances in search of safe drinking water or they collect water from unsafe sources such as rivers and dams. Save the Children is scaling up its response to support the most vulnerable children and their parents in Zimbabwe. We are providing families with cash grants to buy food, improving existing water sources or creating new ones to ensure communities and health facilities have access to clean water and supporting with the identification and treatment of malnourished children. *Names changed to protect identities Sacha Myers / Save the Children

Dara*, 10, her brother Tamer*, 11, and sister Asma*, 7, sell toys to provide for their family. The three siblings have been displaced with their family from a village in eastern rural Idlib, due to increased shelling and airstrikes. They fled in an ambulance car which took them to another village before settling in a destroyed building in Idlib city. Their struggles to find work apart from rubbish collection his arm, head and leg were injured when their home was hit by shelling. Two of the father's siblings were killed and the shrapnel that got into his arm left his arm paralysed.

Muna, 42, has dedicated years of her life to helping some of the most vulnerable children to access healthcare. In 2003 her family was forced to flee their home due to conflict and drought. Now almost 18 years later she is still living in the same camp for displaced people. She says new families arrive every day. The most recent influx is due to the severe water shortages and drought currently gripping many parts of Somalia. “Children living in the camp are at risk because the living conditions are so bad and sometimes families cannot afford clean drinking water. Sometimes they cannot afford to send all of their children to school,” Muna says. “Children have a lower immunity, and they get sick quite often and when there is an illness, they get it first. For example, when COVID-19 came, many children had flu-like symptoms.” Muna is a Family Health Worker with Save the Children. “Because I have some education, I wanted to do something for my community,” Muna says. “I was nominated to be the community health worker and I did that for 16 years. Since Save the Children opened the Maternal and Child (MCH) clinic I have been working with them for the past two years.” Muna goes door-to-door each day visiting families and assessing children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women. She screens children for malnutrition and refers them to Save the Children’s MCH clinic for treatment, provides medication for illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhoea and informs families about how to keep safe from COVID-19 and about the importance of vaccines and breastfeeding. Sacha Myers / Save the Children